Have been almost completly vegetarian for the last 4 and a half years and was pretty much a carnivore before that, so I feel this is as unbiased of an opinion as is possible.
The Beyond, Gardien, Impossible, etc fake chicken have more flavor, nearly indistinguishable texture, are just as juicy, and aren’t greasy. At this point, I consider them better than regular chicken with the sole exception of fried chicken which was never my favorite but I can see the appeal of it.
I’ll concede that the beef substitutes have a ways to go (I like them and they’re not bad but they’re not fooling anyone, either) but they’re not the subject of this opinion.
Now I’m interested to try it. I do have two criticisms of the non-meat alternatives. The first is price. They’re typically significantly more expensive, which seems odd to me. The second is lack of variety. The beyond sausages are actually really, really good. But there is only one type. The permutations of real sausages is so vast I’m spoiled for choice.
Yeah, they’re definitely pricey. I tend to buy in bulk when they go on sale, and they freeze just fine.
The Beyond breakfast sausages are absolutely delicious. There’s two, maybe three, varieties available in my area. There’s the links, which are my favorite, and also the patties. I’m not sure if they stopped making them or my grocery store just stopped carrying them, but there used to be a maple sausage one that was beyond amazing.
Impossible makes a ground sausage that’s also really good. It comes in a sleeve like regular ground sausage and, IMO, tastes better than the real thing.
If you’re talking about the brats, then yeah, AFAIK there’s only one type of those.
The meatballs are kind-of sausage-y and also excellent.
I think some of the chicken is hit or miss, but Beyond Burgers are definitely better than the real thing.
I prefer my chicken meatless too. Honestly the bones and feathers are my favourite part.
I just drink the blood and throw out the rest.
If you don’t juice the whole bird with one of these things you’re missing out on vital nutrients.
Umm that’s obviously for ducks. We are talking chickens here
Now now now wait, a lot of eldritch entities actually don’t want the blood when you sacrifice the chicken. You’re wasting a good demonic opportunity here pal!
Just picturing OP savagely gnawing on the bones and growling at anyone that comes close.
What I do in my free time is not for you all to judge. 😆
The worst part is that you have to eat the beak
Ew their beak is their nose 🤢
It’s you again
I have tried a number of the substitutes available in Australia, our products aren’t even close. My missus is vegetarian and she hates them as well, there is some sort of underlying chemical taste to most of the products over here.
Impossible mince has entirely replaced beef in our pasta sauces and Mexican dishes. Soaks up the flavours around it well and has that familiar chew/bounce of minced beef. But it really can’t stand on its own. My mum even made some impossible meat pies for us and they were excellent.
As for the chicken substitutes in Australia, no real winners yet. Best we’ve had is rissoles that are 50% chicken.
Impossible mince has entirely replaced beef in our pasta sauces and Mexican dishes. Soaks up the flavours around it well and has that familiar chew/bounce of minced beef.
Has a different name in the US so had to look it up, but yeah, it’s great for sauces and spiced dishes. I also have had good results with the “meatless crumbles” which are just ground/minced beef-like textured vegetable protein as they also soak up flavor like nobody’s business and have similar chew/bounce
some sort of underlying chemical taste
I notice that with the beef substitutes (they vaguely smell like canned dog food lol) but finally just got used to it. All the chicken-like products, though, taste like, well, chicken lol.
Been a minute, but I want to say it was Impossible where some friends and I realized it had that aspertaine/diet coke after taste. Beyond was okay though.
But yeah. Anyone who claims the meat substitutes are “better” either haven’t eaten meat in ages or never liked it to begin with. And vegetarian food needs to stop emulating meat and instead focus on its actual strengths (mostly sauce absorption).
Except for black bean burgers. Prepped right and I would totally consider those better than beef burgers (way better than turkey burgers).
No, just because it isn’t replicating meat perfectly doesn’t mean it isn’t better. That’s an opinion. I could say “if you like your meat seasoned, you never really liked meat.” It’d be a pretty stupid opinion, but just as valid. It’s all an opinion based on personal preference.
I agree though, the key thing about meat substitutes is realizing they aren’t meat. They need to be treated a little differently. They can absolutely be better in some circumstances. You have to learn how to cook with them though, just as you did for meat.
Chicken is especially weird to care about emulating the flavor of. It’s ass by itself. What makes it good is the stuff you coat it in.
Cook a chicken properly and it is delicious. The issue is that people mostly eat nuggets (which are good but…) where it is just breading and a bland flavorless mass.
Or they trim it to death and then overcook it (an ex managed to dry out thighs…). Which, to be fair, is true of beef as well. A LOT of the ultra lean cuts are horrendous without excessive amounts of sauce and spices.
That is actually a good point. I only eat white meat because I don’t like the gristly gross parts of the rest of it. Maybe I just don’t like the flavor of chicken…
And that is perfectly fine. But:
White meat is a real challenge. Tenderloins and wings (and back meat if you are a culture that eats it) are pretty easy to cook up. But breasts, especially modern breasts, are a huge challenge.
In large part because you don’t want grizzle or dangly bits. That is what you SHOULD be trimming off. But you do want fat pockets and connective tissue in the meat itself. That melts/renders and keeps the meat juicy while also soaking it with a LOT of flavor. In thighs those are the little specs of white fat/“skin” that are left over on top of the meat itself even if you take the skin off. Trim those and you remove much of the flavor.
But for breasts? Most of that is going to come from the skin itself. A skinless breast is one where you better damned well have a good sauce (preferably marinade) because “dry brining” only goes so far. But, unless you (spatchcock and) roast it, getting that to a safe temperature (which is nowhere near as high as you think it is but…) without drying out large chunks of it is really difficult. Which is why people tend to butterfly and pound it to even things out. Which… means you no longer have the skin to flavor it.
Hard agree, but that’s probably I’m only used to the ‘plofkip’ variety. ‘Plofkip’ is a Dutch word which roughly translate as ‘Exploding chicken’, which is chickens that are raised at an unnatural rate. After being um… processed, the meat is commonly injected with water as well. That stuff smells vile and the taste is mediocre at best. It is also almost physically impossible to burn it while cooking because of the water content.
I would not know what a chicken would taste like if it had had an actual life. I am told, it is a world of difference, but I would buy the vegetarian or vegan alternative anyway.
I raise my own meat chickens (cornish cross). They see sunlight and get fresh pasture at least two times per day (chicken tractor). They eat bugs, worms, frogs, and grass, and anything else they might encounter, as well as meat bird food.
They taste much better than the factory birds you can buy at grocery stores. I dont know that i would describe the taste as “a world of difference,” but definitely much better.
Plofkip sounds terrible.
The beyond steak tips are pretty good. I’ve been using it as a beef substitute in tacos and in Hamburger Helper. The Hamburger Helper meal is now my 5 year old’s favourite food.
Quorn is the best I’ve had. I don’t think it’s quite as tasty as real chicken, but it’s close enough for plenty of uses. It’s a touch dry. It has very good verisimilitude to slightly overcooked chicken.
I find Gardien’s beef crumbles to be equally enjoyable as beef for chili and tacos and overall better when considering convenience, putting aside the ethical argument.
I wonder to what kind of chicken you are comparing it though considering you mention fried chicken. Some minced chicken mixed with condiments? I can believe that. A high quality well roasted chicken with no condiments needed? I have doubts the substitutes are there.
Filets, cutlets, popcorn chicken, tenders, nuggets, strips (like you’d use for fajitas), as well as dishes made with those (chicken soups, cassseroles, etc). Haven’t seen a good “drumstick” or “wing” substitute unless you allow for boneless but those are basically nuggets lol. Same for rotisserie chickens.
The closest thing to a rotisserie chicken would be like a Tofurkey and while they can be good, they’re not fooling anyone.
You’re talking cuts of meat and the person you’re replying to is talking about seasoning the meat - does using just a small amount of salt and pepper create a noticeable difference in flavor between raised and generated meat?
Hey in the way if beef substitutes, have you tried carne de soya? It’s sold as “textured soy protein” here in the US which isn’t as tasty sounding, but effectively it’s dried, shelf stable tofu and it’s hugely popular among the poor in mexico for being dirt cheap and very healthy.
Because of it’s dry sponge like properties, it soaks up flavor and fats like you would not believe, and the way it’s crumbled let’s out Cook to be nearly identical to perfectly cooked 90:10 ground beef. I now use it for everything but meatloaf and biscuits in gravey.
You can mix any combination of flavor with some olive oil and water/broth/beer/thin sauce/etc as a marinade, toss it in to soak it up, throw it in a pan and cook it until it’s the texture you like. Made sloppy joes with it, better than with beef. Flavored it like I was making Italian sausage, best pasta I’ve ever had. Mixed it with bacon fat, pale ale, and a fist full of spices, put it in chili, and my coworkers refuse to believe it’s not two pounds of chorizo. My autistic spouse is the only person who can genuinely distinguish the difference in texture, and I rule out that it’s because she introduced me to it. It even comes out perfectly in a crock pot!
To top it off, it’s $1 for 5oz, which is about 2lbs of beef worth of volume, has the same protein per serving, and a third of the calories with still half the calories after you add in your oil.
I’ll be frank, I’m not into it for a health food reason, I’m into it for a culinary experience reason. I can flavor it in two different profiles and cook them both in the same dish, and the flavors will stay distinct in the meaty bits while mingling in the sauce. It’s functionally flavorless on it’s own and uncooked has the texture of fresh crumbly cheese when rehydrated, so you could probably soak it in whey, salt and herbs to get unmeltable cheese. I’m even toying with the idea of grinding it to smaller bits, flavoring it with vanilla and simple syrup, and putting it in rocky road cookies as a substitute for marshmallow that won’t be sticky or caramelize on the bottom of the pan. The possibilities here are endless!
Not that brand specifically, but I use the TVP crumbles in a lot of dishes. The ones I get are frozen and like $5.50 for ~14 oz so not exactly a bargain but I’ll keep an eye out for that brand next time I’m out. They go great in sauces or for chili, tacos, and things like that.
Carne de soya is what it’s called in mexico, literally “soy meat” lol ask about it at Hispanic or Asian markets if you have any in your area, they’ll have the dry stuff cheap.
Just look for dried tvp and it should be much cheaper and functionally similar across brands. Plus you can determine the flavoring yourself. Adding a little no beef better than bouillon when you marinate/cook it can go a long way towards increasing the beefiness.
Everyone I’ve tried is obviously fake. They’re too rubbery. The texture is all off. Not awful, but nothing on the real thing.
The secret ingredient is torture
How is it chicken if it doesn’t have meat?
I call it Chicken’t
😆 I’m stealing this.
Ayy, me too. Bacon’t is another one I enjoy. Glad I’m not the only one with this daft sense of humor!
Unless it’s from the animal suffering and dying region, it’s just sparkling protein
Same vibe as chicken without feathers. Still chicken tho
When you buy “chicken” at the store, is it referring to the animal, or the flavor and texture?
Meat from the animal.
Absolutely the animal. There is no other meaning of the word chicken when buying chicken that means that it is not chicken.
Edit: unless it’s an adjective like “chicken substitute”
How do you buy “chicken flavour” or “chicken texture” at the store?
My brother in owning tastebuds… On all cooking shows/challenges/etc, they always do side by side comparisons - which is the best tomato sauce? Blindfolds, side by side comparisons… You know why? Because NO ONE would be able to compare a sauce from today to a sauce from when we filmed last week, much less FOUR YEARS AGO.
This is a pet peeve of mine as my irl community is filled with vegans/vegetarians and I hear shit like this ALL THE TIME.
“No trust me it tastes exactly like XXXX”
“When’s the last time you had XXXX?”
“Highscool”
long sigh
Yeah, not to rag on vegans or vegetarians, but their palates are fucked from not eating certain foods for years. We’ve had friends take us out to “the best places in town” and they were raving while eating and it was bland garbage, my wife and I could barely stomach it. When you eat tasteless food for years your body tricks you into thinking that it has the same flavor because you wouldn’t want to live otherwise.
Like, my MiL thinks that salt makes food taste bad. SALT. She hardly uses any in her cooking and only does because we complain that she doesn’t use salt.
No salt (unless for health reasons) is some crazy fucking work lol
Ill find out when I find them with price parity.
Great post :)
I can’t say I agree in detail, but I don’t disagree completely either.
I’d say that it depends on brand, preparation, and then personal taste (as in the variability of human taste as a sense, not preferences) as to whether a given substitute is going to be better, acceptable, or worse.
Texture wise, I’d agree that the usual options are on par. Slightly different, but not in a bad way. Juiciness, in my experience, is iffy. Definitely not as greasy; but for some dishes, that missing fat is a significant detriment. Flavor is more like texture; any given person is going to interpret the chemicals on their tongue slightly differently.
I think where the substitutes often fail for the most part is the smell, not the actual on-tongue taste. Even though most chicken meat isn’t going to smell a lot, it is there, and the nose is very important to perceived flavor. I’ve yet to smell any chicken substitutes that smell right at all, though none have smelled bad. Soups and stews that aren’t very chicken centric, that won’t matter. But other stuff, it can and will.
Something like chicken noodle soup though? That’s a hell no lol. You can’t currently get anything that will make a stock that actually tastes right. I’m not saying you can’t make good soup with chicken substitutes, just that it’s a totally different taste. Enough so that calling it by the same name would be a joke.
Where chicken substitutes shine is nugget size dishes that don’t rely on the chicken fats and soluble components for the flavor. I’ve had some sesame substitute that was as good or better than chicken. Stuff like that, with sauces, or even straight up breaded nuggets, that’s where even if the substitutes didn’t taste of anything at all, they’d be just fine.
Now me? I tend to be of the mind that for most dishes, you’re better off just abandoning the original meat based recipe entirely and just cook things that make veggies shine on their own.
Could be right on the smell, but TBH, I’ve never really associated chicken with a particular smell (except fried chicken) but I always liken that more to the cooking process than the meat itself.
I probably did leave out a fair number of dishes/use-cases since most of my chicken consumption that isn’t just snacking is in the form of sandwiches, cutlets, and casseroles: things that don’t don’t necessarily need the fat to make the dish. Same for things like quesadillas and fajitas. But at the end of the day, this post is my own personal opinion and not a blanket statement of fact lol.
I’m also not a strict vegetarian, so using chicken stock is acceptable when needed though I usually make due with oil/butter and spices.
Back when I smoked, I couldn’t pick up the smell of chicken. I always thought it was just bland, but it was that I didn’t get enough of the smell. Scent is a big part of perceived taste (as opposed to the actual detection that happens on the tongue only), and food has been so much better overall since I quit.
Since chicken, particularly breast meat, doesn’t have a very strong smell, it’s easy to not notice it even when one’s nose isn’t inhibited by something
Before I quit smoking ~11 years ago, I could eat literally anything because it all tasted like cardboard anyway. Don’t miss that one bit.
Amen to that!
Meatless chicken
You want only the bones??
